Investigation underway for dead child on bus in Cal City

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CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — Police and Kern County sheriff's investigators are trying to figure out how a 2-year-old boy died Wednesday morning in California City.

The child and a man were picked up by a bus, and fellow passengers noticed the child wasn't breathing after a 10-mile ride, police Chief Eric Hurtado said.

The bus driver stopped at California City Boulevard and Neuralia Road and called for help, but medics were unable to save the child.

The episode began when the bus driver spotted the man in a fetal position and holding the child alongside a road, according to the police chief. The man and child boarded the bus after the man assured the driver they were OK, Hurtado said.

The man, whose name was withheld, was placed in custody for an investigation. Sheriff's office spokesman Ray Pruitt said he's the boyfriend of the child's mother.

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